But how is the travelling any different to what out of town players for the 3 cumbrian clubs done to date? Barrow have signed 5-6 youngesters from Saints, Leeds, Warrington and Wigan recently wo are going to be travelling 2-3 times a week.Anyway, think Haven will get the more experienced Saints players being in the CC, whereas Rochdale will get the developing players in the CC1

Barrow are making actual signings for their club. These link up players are different as i see it. They will be like guest players. Available one week maybe not the next. It wont help consistency or team harmony. Its a little like being used to get them game time Imo. I dont like the idea and thats not just coz haven have done it. I dont think i would like town to do it personally. Loanees or dual reg is enough imo.

so a due reg player from sl club could come up for training all week , the coachs av a game plain to work with him then saturday dinner time , town could get a phone call to say he cant play now cos one of there players was injured this morning

There are so many questions about this new system that require answers and new questions appear every day. I have asked the RFL about several issues and had a reply. First of all the current system was a dual registration scheme for Under 23 players only between SL and Championship clubs. The new system is now for any age of player, although as the SL clubs will be running Under 19 teams I would imagine that most players will be Over 20 and the maximum number that a club can have under the system is 5, one more than under the current system.

Each SL club can form a partnership with a Championship or Championship 1 club and if they want to form a link with a 2nd Championship club that 2nd club can only be in certain areas of the country outside the M62 corridor or Wales and France. Cumbria is named as one of these areas which means that because of travelling issues that some have already highlighted our clubs will fall in to the 2nd club grouping for use by SL clubs. Obviously to get full value from these partnerships Championship clubs in close proximity to a SL club can get benefits such as training facilities, medical and physio facilities, sports science, etc, etc, on a regular basis if not weekly, whereas our clubs would get them as and when we could afford to take up the offer to use them.

I asked how this system would work within the Championship(s) salary cap(s) with SL players who are obviously on larger salaries than Championship players. If the SL club pays the salary it would still give an unfair advantage to a Championship club having a highly paid full-time professionals services that under other circumstances would have put the Championship club over the salary cap limit. This point had been made and they have come up with some sort of system whereby the SL players will all be given a "value" for the purposes of fitting in with the Championship(s) salary cap levels. My reading of this is that it will depend on how much of a clubs salary cap has been spent on non-partnership players as to the "value" of players they will be able to fit in under this system.

I said from the outset that I thought the RFL were opening a can of worms and I have not heard of anything to suggest otherwise. I can envisage all sorts of arguments about player "values" at different clubs for instance and clubs along the M62 corridor are bound to have an advantage over our clubs in Cumbria, London, Wales, etc. I mentioned about players not wanting to travel to west Cumbria on a regular basis for training or playing and again it is something that the SL club has to be strict on if the system is to work. They did say that they have put funding in for the new Cumbria academy to help keep players in our area though!!!!

All this to save SL clubs having to pay out £100k per annum for their reserve teams, so how much of their savings will be passed down the line?

I remember when .............................

"It is impossible not to feel a twinge of sympathy for Workington Town, the fall guys this season for the Super League's determination to retain it's European dimension, in the shape of Paris. While the French have had every assistance to survive, the importance of having a flagship in a heartland area like West Cumbria has been conveniently forgotten." - Dave Hadfield - Independent 25th August 1996.

There are so many questions about this new system that require answers and new questions appear every day. I have asked the RFL about several issues and had a reply. First of all the current system was a dual registration scheme for Under 23 players only between SL and Championship clubs. The new system is now for any age of player, although as the SL clubs will be running Under 19 teams I would imagine that most players will be Over 20 and the maximum number that a club can have under the system is 5, one more than under the current system.

Each SL club can form a partnership with a Championship or Championship 1 club and if they want to form a link with a 2nd Championship club that 2nd club can only be in certain areas of the country outside the M62 corridor or Wales and France. Cumbria is named as one of these areas which means that because of travelling issues that some have already highlighted our clubs will fall in to the 2nd club grouping for use by SL clubs. Obviously to get full value from these partnerships Championship clubs in close proximity to a SL club can get benefits such as training facilities, medical and physio facilities, sports science, etc, etc, on a regular basis if not weekly, whereas our clubs would get them as and when we could afford to take up the offer to use them.

I asked how this system would work within the Championship(s) salary cap(s) with SL players who are obviously on larger salaries than Championship players. If the SL club pays the salary it would still give an unfair advantage to a Championship club having a highly paid full-time professionals services that under other circumstances would have put the Championship club over the salary cap limit. This point had been made and they have come up with some sort of system whereby the SL players will all be given a "value" for the purposes of fitting in with the Championship(s) salary cap levels. My reading of this is that it will depend on how much of a clubs salary cap has been spent on non-partnership players as to the "value" of players they will be able to fit in under this system.

I said from the outset that I thought the RFL were opening a can of worms and I have not heard of anything to suggest otherwise. I can envisage all sorts of arguments about player "values" at different clubs for instance and clubs along the M62 corridor are bound to have an advantage over our clubs in Cumbria, London, Wales, etc. I mentioned about players not wanting to travel to west Cumbria on a regular basis for training or playing and again it is something that the SL club has to be strict on if the system is to work. They did say that they have put funding in for the new Cumbria academy to help keep players in our area though!!!!

All this to save SL clubs having to pay out £100k per annum for their reserve teams, so how much of their savings will be passed down the line?

none of the savings will be passed down keith. This is all to benefit SL clubs.

You can see the temptations can't you in clubs doing this ... It all seems win win , with the benefits obvious on the paddock . But the drawbacks may be slower to emerge and could be greater in the long term . Who knows ? Hard to criticise teams linking up though . Whatever the consequences it certainly is a new era in the sport , and the injection of quality in such depth and breadth into the Championship will make it the best second tier there's ever been , and a fantastic watch . Crowds should come back to watch next year .The league may morph slowly into Super League 2 , and my money is on it being named that in the next few years , with that organisation getting its grip on the game.

I'd rather we got three or four top local amatuers than bring in four up and coming players from a SL club. If the jampots think they are going to get quality saints players up here they will be disappointed.

Aye nowt but good memories of Hepi. You could guarantee if the game was a bit flat and the lads weren't firing Brad would swing an arm or put a big hit in and get both the crowd and the players fired up. I think he kinda enjoyed lifting the trophies too, I remember him milking it for all it was worth in his shades!!

The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but thats the way to bet!

Aye nowt but good memories of Hepi. You could guarantee if the game was a bit flat and the lads weren't firing Brad would swing an arm or put a big hit in and get both the crowd and the players fired up. I think he kinda enjoyed lifting the trophies too, I remember him milking it for all it was worth in his shades!!

or having four or five players hanging on to him round his neck shorts legs ,but still kept going forward